Women twice as likely as men to continue wearing masks as Canada reopens: survey

By Jeremiah Rodriguez, CTVNews.ca Writer

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    SASKATOON, Saskatchewan (CTV Network) — Women were more than twice as likely as men to say they’ll keep wearing masks in crowded places when their community reopens, according to a new survey by Nanos Research, with 32 per cent of women saying they would continue to wear face coverings compared to just 16 per cent of males.

Canadians overall were split on how often they would keep wearing a mask in crowded areas going forward. Two out of five people surveyed said they would wear a mask occasionally, with 24 per cent saying they’d wear one regularly. Meanwhile, one out of five said they’d never wear a face covering once their community opened up.

The survey, commissioned by CTV News, also found more than three in four Canadians (54 per cent) supported or somewhat supported (24 per cent) mandatory proof of vaccinations when travelling between regions in Canada. These opinions were held by slightly more people compared those surveyed back in April.

Meanwhile, a strong majority of Canadians were open (67 per cent) or somewhat open (17 per cent) to having an annual COVID-19 booster vaccine to protect them from future variations of the virus.

Another key finding was that Canadians in the Prairies were the most likely to say their province lacked caution when it came to reopening plans.

This compared to 84 per cent of those in Atlantic provinces who were more likely to say their province had been cautious in reopening — followed by Ontario (54 per cent) and Quebec (49 per cent) who shared those thoughts. When looking at the country as a whole, nearly half of surveyed Canadians felt their provincial plans for reopening the economy and social gatherings were cautious.

METHODOLOGY: Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land and cell lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,029 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between May 30th and June 2nd, 2021 as part of an omnibus survey. Participants were randomly recruited by telephone using live agents and administered a survey online. The results were statistically checked and weighted by age and gender using the latest Census information and the sample is geographically stratified to be representative of Canada.

Individuals were randomly called using random digit dialing with a maximum of five call backs.

The margin of error for a random survey of 1,029 Canadians is ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The research was commissioned by CTV News and conducted by Nanos Research.

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